March 10th, 2010 by Nate

Isn’t Nostalgia fun?

The reason I state this is that WAY back at the end of 2006. I followed my career and moved from Australia to Germany. Naturally one of the first things you do when you arrive in German is have a bier. Well at least I did.

So on December 28th 2006 I picked up some brews at my local Rewe (German Supermarket Chain) and then headed back to my apartment to enjoy them in the middle of winter (note that December in Australia is Summer, thus I had just flown from a 32 degree Sydney-Summer day into a Frankfurt -8 Winters day).

If you click on this link, you will be taken back to my first post to Bier Adventures from Deutschland. Back in those days I didn’t review biers I just posted photos of them on my site. As I so eloquently state on the post, a bottle of Maisel’s Wiesse has cost me a grant total of 0.79 cents Euro! Bargain right?

Anyway since that time I’ve ingested a ‘few’ biers from far and wide so my tastes have grown a little. So much so so that although I’ve also posted about drinking Maisel’s Weisse with a Schweinebraten and thoroughly enjoyed the adventure, I think I’ve moved on from thinking this specific Weisse is worthy of such attention.

Yes it is a popular and original family brew from 1887. Yes it is a Weisse that I get to see a lot of and probably drink a lot of when not testing/trying new beers. What the Maisel’s Wiesse isn’t is 5 or even 4 stein material.

Why the change of heart you may ask (or not). Well once you start trying the Schneider Weisse, the Augustiner Weisse, the Franziskaner Dunkel and many, many others you tend to become spoiled for choice and well, at least for me, become a little bit of a Weisse snob. The Maisel’s is simply too sweet for me, a little like a glass of liquid brown sugar + a little bit of wheat.

Having said all of that, I do think that this is the perfect entry weisse bier. It’s great to introduce people to the enjoyability of a weisse without being challenged to early on. So I’m not saying I don’t like the bier, but it has to take a step down in relation to the other Weisse biers.

Beer, Bier, Frankfurt, German Bier, Germany, Maisel's Wiesse, Nostalgia, Wiesse

March 9th, 2010 by Nate

Thanks to Gizmodo we can see that Printer Ink really is made of Unicorn Blood.
The good thing is that beer is so damn cheap it doesn’t even pop up on this list, phew!

March 8th, 2010 by Nate

Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m a little bit of a fan of Weisse Biers. So when I get the chance to try a new variation, I dive in clothes and all. In a recent trip to Zürich I visited the lovely and albeit kitschZeughauskeller. It’s a typical ‘Bavarian’ bier und essen halle (beer and food hall) full of ornate woodwork and middle age weapons and armor.

In fact I had actually visited the Zeughauskeller way back in 2007 with a mate of mine and that is where I tried for the first time the Schneider & Sohn Aventinus. So it’s not short on good bier.

I had not previously tasted the Hofbräu Schwarze Weisse. In additional I also happen to be a fan of other Hofbräu brews. So this was a must. At first appearances the bier actually looks similar to that of a Franziskaner Dunkel (which has been discussed in depth over at the Brew Club site). But looks aside the Hofbräu is a little different. I found it to be a quality experience, from the dark pour and the aromatic sweetness and finally the lovely mouthy, chewy feel to the bier. This is certainly up there with the best Weisse biers around.

My only issue with this bier, especially when contrasted against other ‘dark’ weisse biers is that the taste just couldn’t compete with that of the Franziskaner. Specifically there was an almost salty finish to the flavour. Look it’s not bad at all, in fact if I had not previously tried the Franziskaner Dunkel, this Hofbräu Schwarze would probably be getting 5 steins. However as this is not the case, I didn’t like the Hofbräu as much as the Franziskaner. In the end this is simply a matter of individual taste. So this gets a 4 stein +

Hell just writing this review makes me want one right now….. should invest in some on my next trip to Deutschland!

Bavarian bier, German Bier, Hofbräu, Hofbräu Schwarze Weisse, Weisse Bier, Zeughauskeller

March 6th, 2010 by Nate

2 weeks ago I was in Zürich to see some performances. Specifically before the Henry Rollins Spoken Word show I managed to try the above Halden Krone Spezialbier, which as it turns out is from our friendly mega-corp; Heineken.

It’s funny, I am going to quote another bier blogger here as I’ve seen The Beer Nut’s review of the Halden and it sums up my feelings exactly:
“easy to drink, but let down by — you’ve guessed it — blandness. A sunny-day quaffer, but otherwise pointless

That’s it.. I could not have put it better myself. I honestly don’t feel like giving a rundown on the brewery, history or anything. It has been said in the above link. Cheers Mr. Beer Nut.

Lager, Swiss Bier, Swiss Bier/Bière/Birra, Switzerland, Zurich

March 5th, 2010 by Nate

Any Aussie you meet in the world will tell you that we would not even give Fosters to our dogs (let alone be able to find it in a drinking establishment). Anyway, that is neither here nor there. The above advertisement and the rest of the “How to speak Australian” are brilliant.

Just wanted to share.

Advertisment, Fosters Ad

March 4th, 2010 by Nate

Ahh my first post for March. I’ve been very busy working through a new collection of biers that I’ve acquired from various locations. I’ve previously mentioned my upcoming reviews of biers from Nürnberg and the Franconian region of Germany. But that’s not quite done yet, so here I present the Andechs Spezial Hell.

I was gifted a case of these beauties during the holiday season and so I’ve had ample time to review them. Rather than just post an overview after one bier I decided to hold out and share some more details after drinking, well, a few more than one

The Andechs Monastery Brewery has been doing their thing and turning out the good stuff since 1455 (yet another ancient middle age brewhaus). As you can probably see from their website these guys do have a wide selection of beir types, but I’m here to give you a review of their Special Lager (Spezial Hell).

Drinking these in large quantities did help me to get a good overall idea of the bier. I will be honest, I expected more from a brewery with such heritage. Thats not to say the bier was bad, it just seemed to fizzle out (literally) just when it seemed it was going to become good.

As you can see from the picture, the colour of the bier is strong gold, but maybe too clear. The foam lasted for a very short period and the flavour lacked the punch that a good 5.8% lager should have and was almost tart when you thought it should hit you with a bitter flavour.

All this being said, I still drank every bottle and enjoyed doing so. As I said, the bier wasn’t bad. It just didn’t meet my expectations. It’s quite pleasing to have friends, family and colleagues that know to buy you bier as presents. So where does that leave the review? Well I can’t get this adventure past 3 steins. But lesson learned. I’ll see if I can get my hands on some other Andechs brews.

Andechs Spezial Hell, Bavarian, Bayern, German Bier, Lager, Pils

February 26th, 2010 by Nate

A couple of years ago, whilst on a tour of Europe and before the Schengen Agreement was signed by some Eastern European countries, I completed a boarder crossing between Germany and The Czech Republic. This was the days when you had to hand over your passport to the boarder guard, sit back and wait a few hours whilst they processed you through their ’system’.

So during this boarder crossing somwhere between Dresden and Ústí nad Labem, we had some time to kill and well what do you do when passing between Germany and the Czech Republic, you have a bier!

Now for my American Readers, you may, or for that matter, may not know about Budvar bier (yes it looks like your Budweiser, King of Beers, bier). Well there is a long held dispute between Budweiser Budvar Brewery (Budějovický Budvar, the Czech Brewery) and Anheuser-Busch as to the ownership of the bier. Essentially the bier was licensed in the USA by Anheuser-Busch 1876 and thus it’s kind of stuck. Whereas the original Budvar has been relegated, at least in the USA as Czehchvar.

Anyway, enough of the history lesson. The one thing that can be said unequivocally is that the Budvar bier is miles ahead of the American version of ‘Bud’. Please note that this is in no way an insult to Americans, just Anheuser-Busch. Which much like the Fosters conglomerate in Australia tend to homogenize the beers at their disposal. The American ‘king of beers’ is well far from deserved of the crown.

The Czech Budvar, the Pils, on the other hand is good, but it’s not spectacular. It does pale in comparison to other Czech Pils, but when laid next to it’s competing namesake biers, this is well… good. The bier is light, with a grassy and hoppy aroma. It’s easily drinkable with a nice but light golden colour. The flavour though is pretty ‘normal’ in that it just doesn’t challenge me. There is a nice, but simple grain flavour that can sometimes be overwhelmed with the alcohol flavour. It’s a midrange bier but nothing awesome.

Anheuser-Busch, Budvar, Budweiser, Czech Republic, Dresden, Germany, Schengen Agreement, Ústí nad Labem

February 24th, 2010 by Nate

In one of my local super markets, my usual hunting grounds for new beers, I came across the above conundrum. This is, as the label states, a Bohemia Clásica. Now correct me if I am wrong, but Bohemia is in the Czech Republic? Anyway after reading the label further I realised this was actually a cerveza from Mexico.

So initially I was skeptical as to the quality of this cerveza. The thing is that most Mexican export cerveza is pretty poor on quality. Yes cervezas like Corona or Sol are comically thin in taste, texture and well quality. Yes I am not against having one on a hot day, but much like the thing Australian lagers I believe that I enjoy the more challenging beer than just having some bubbling water with some alcohol and a twist of lemon.
Anyway, back to my skepticism…. I decided I would give this cerveza a try.

This straight of the bat smelt like a European beer, not a Mexican Cerveza, ok interesting. The aroma was hoppy and had a fresh malty scent to it. The the pour was a typical pale lager, but stronger than any other Mexican Cerveza I have seen, plus the head was stong and really seemed to lock the floral hops in. The flavour was exactly that of a Pils out of Bohemia. It wasn’t as good as your Urquel or anything from the Pils region, but this was a surprising Cerveza. I don’t think I’d buy any more of them, but it certainly game me a new perspective on Cervezas coming out of Mexico.

This is a Cerveza you should try and see if it works for you. For me I was more surprised than anything else, but I still enjoyed the Cerveza. Although I can and will buy better Bohemian pils in the future.

Bohemia, cervezas, Mexican Cerveza, Mexico, Pils

February 22nd, 2010 by Nate

Not so long ago I spent some time in Rome on a particularly hot summers day. During my meandering through the city streets my mate and I stopped for a cold drink outside the gates of Basilica Papale di San Pietro (St. Peter’s Basilica, or the for the non-Catholics, the home of the Pope). Served up on tap was the above 0.5 litre birra from the Brauerei Forst and no it is not a German Bier, it’s an Italian Birra.

Allow me to explain this titillating situation. You see there is small portion of Northern Italy that predominately speaks Austro-Bavarian German. This region is known as either South Tyrol or Bolzano-Bozen. It has been part of the Austrio-Hungarian Empire, The Kingdom of Italy, and now Italy. But because of it’s history it has very Austrian and Germanic background, thus the Brewery being named Brauerei Forst, which has been brewing this golden drink since 1863. Seriously who thought that part of Italy spoke German? Cool huh?

So down to the birra, which unfortunately isn’t as cool as the history of the region, Brewery or where I consumed the birra, But it was in no way bad, I still managed to enjoy this Specialbier. The thing is that it that this bier wasn’t trying to be anything it wasn’t. It’s a clean lager with light but crisp hop finish and is perfect for quaffing or quickly drinking. I honestly knew nothing about this brewery until I visited Rome on a stinking hot summers day, thus this birra was perfect to fight off the effects of the heat. Because it was exactly what it was, a cool, crisp lager and nothing more, not a “king of beers” or had a name indicating it was a bitter, but was in actual fact was a lager, I really liked the Forst Lager/Specialbier.

Bier, Birra, Forst Bier, Forst Birra, Italian Birra, Italy, Lager, Rome

February 18th, 2010 by Nate

Earlier this month I spent some time reviewing the Grimbergen Triple where I noted that I liked the bier but it was nothing great. So you don’t need the whole little story, etc. I’ll just get to the bier. Thus it is important to say that with the above Blond this Abbey Brewery shows that it certainly has some range in it’s spectrum of bier production.

This one was more to my liking, it had a pale-ish golden pour to it and presented an aroma of caramel with some hints of citrus fruits. The first thing that hit me about the taste was that of the typical Belgian spices, it is distinctive to many a Belgian bier and something that I quite enjoy, it’s distinctive. The flavour also hits at, like the aroma, some Citrus fruits and a nice banana-caramel flavour. So overall not bad.

I’ve actually give this bier one more stein that it’s Triple brother. Why? well it comes down to drink-ability. The characteristic that I am starting to really appreciate. The Triple wasn’t bad, but I could not spend the night with mates drinking them, whereas the Blond goes down like a treat. I like bier to be challenging and I like the idea of trying many biers that challenge the status quo, but I cant spend a night drinking bier that is too rich or too-wine like, which unfortunately happens with some Belgian biers. Thus I was happy to have this Blond revitalise my opinion of the biers.

Belgian Bier, Grimbergen, Grimbergen Blond, Grimbergen Triple